Forgotten Silence
by Kumiru-san
Summary: The war changed more than just Harry's outward appearance. Enter Alexander Black. Can leaving his past behind help cure him, or will he break under the new strains which Forks and its resident immortals will bear on him? Slash EC/HP, JB/DM
1. Mask of Sanity

Long time no write!! ^^ This is a new story, cause I just didn't have the heart to go on with the others, although I might eventually get back to them. Don't count on it though.

Summary: The war changed more than just Harry's outward appearance. Enter Alexander Black. Can leaving his past behind help cure him, or will he break under the new strains which Forks and its resident immortals will bear on him?

Pairings: EC/HP (main), Possible pairing later (JB/DM) Open to suggestions!!

Warnings: SLASH PEOPLE!!! If you don't know what that is, then I suggest you click the little 'back' button.

Disclaimers: I refuse to do this every chapter, so here it is. I own nothing, except the basic plot of THIS story. But everything else belongs to Meyer and Rowling.

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**Mask of Sanity**

Harry sighed as he shut the door to his car, stepping out to bask in the dreary morning air. His always-unruly hair rustled around his neck as he looked over the place which was going become his new place of residence shortly. Forks. What a dreary kind of place. Out of the 365 days of the year, the sun only came out 4 or 5 days, if lucky. On the other hand, the rain fell almost every other day and frankly, that was the way that Harry liked it. It reminded him quite a lot of home.

A sneer jumped to his lips unbidden as the thought curled in his mind. Home. He didn't have anything like that, not anymore. He'd given up any claims to such a concept as soon as he'd left London for good.

He shook himself of such disparaging thoughts, and walked to the back of his car, a beat up Ferrari which didn't actually look anywhere near as expensive as it actually was. He'd laid a few charms on it as soon as he'd seen the other cars which circulated around Forks. He knew that he'd soon be the news of the town, this being as small as he'd heard it was; but Harry wasn't looking for any extra attention. He'd had enough of that back at h...London.

After looking around for a moment, he took out a brand new wand which he'd bought just before departing England. It was made of maple, 13 inches long, with thestral bone as its core. It was also illegal, and could not be traced by the Ministry or government in general, be it back in England or here in the USA.

He placed a few Disillusionment charms on his surroundings so that anyone who happened to pass by would not see anything unusual. It was a precautionary measure, and perhaps slightly paranoid; there weren't many people who circulated the town at any one time, and this far into the forest the chances of anyone getting anywhere close to the medium-sized cabin which he'd bought (purposely as out of the way and inconspicuous as possible) were near nil. However, he was taking no chances.

As soon as he was inside he Levitated his luggage over to a side to explore his new...'home'. The word still felt strange, even only in his thoughts, but he was determined to make it so in this new place, this new beginning. Here, he was determined to have the life he was never allowed before.

The house was of a decent size; it had two bedrooms, 1 bathroom, a living room and a rather large kitchen. He smiled as he stepped into the kitchen.

Cooking had always been a pastime which he had enjoyed, and he silently thanked the Dursleys for perhaps the only kindness they had ever given him. While he'd been cooking, they didn't actually shout that much, and had basically left him alone. Once, when he'd prepared a particularly delicious chocolate cake, Petunia had actually shot him a small smile. She'd repressed it in a second, but Harry had felt wonderful for days afterwards.

He paced around the room for a little while, checking to see if all the things he'd ordered where in place. He quickly placed a few charms on the cutlery and, after a few seconds, decided that the first order of business would be to go into town to get a look around and some groceries. He hadn't eaten anything in around two days, and was beginning to feel the drain on his physical and magical performance. Shaking his head, he wondered if it was possible to die of hunger simply by forgetting. He flicked his hand and his keys flew over. He smiled. Ever since the final battle he'd been able to do small amounts of wandless, wordless, almost thoughtless magic. He didn't quite have the control over it that he had with a wand, but he was sure that with enough practice he would be able to do almost anything.

* * *

It took twenty minutes to get from his house to the local grocery store, and he jumped out of his concealed Ferrari with a contended sigh. He'd charmed the inside to be more comfortable and accommodating than it seemed on the outside. Attention or not, he was not giving up the small commodities he could afford easily.

He walked over to the entrance and, hoping not to arouse any particular interest simply from being different, walked inside.

At first, no one seemed to notice him. His black hoody and faded jeans were not clothes which caused him to stand out in general, and he wasn't obvious or had any outstanding physical features, something which he was rather grateful for. However, after a few seconds of wandering about the shelves, he felt a presence walk up from behind him. He tensed, even though he knew the person wasn't a threat, but, like the charms around his house and belongings, they were a part of him which had evolved from the war and which he wasn't about to give up.

He turned with a smile towards the person and had to force himself not to stare. The boy in front of him was beautiful. He had pale, flawless skin and bronze coloured hair. His features were well chiselled and he looked like some of the male models Harry had seen on ads sometimes, but even better and obviously without even wearing make-up. his clothes, which would have looked normal on any other person, seemed to curve around him, adding an air of seductiveness which had Harry frowning on impulse and moving backwards.

Their eyes met.

The other boy's honey-coloured eyes widened and he tensed suddenly. Harry glared at him, not knowing precisely why this other...being was giving him such an ominous feeling. After dealing with the magical community for so long, Harry wasn't sure anymore who was entirely human, and who was not. He had learned not to trust either, as well.

After a few seconds the other boy seemed to force himself to relax before he offered Harry a very fake-looking smile and stretched out his arm.

"My name's Edward, Edward Cullen. You must be the guy they told us would be moving in the old Cabin."

Harry hesitated for a moment, before he stretched out his hand and shook it with the other boy's. The cold, hard skin against his own caused a shiver to run up and down his arms as his magic screamed at him. His lips moved upwards as he offered the vampire a smile. It was completely faked, but there weren't many people who could tell; in fact, there were only two, Dumbledore and Severus. Severus, he trusted. Dumbledore...not so much.

His mood dropped a bit as he quickly considered telling the vampire his old name or his new one. He was so accustomed to being Harry, but...

As soon as he'd decided he was coming here, he'd decided to change his name to something which wouldn't remind him of the past so blatantly. Nothing drastic, but enough that he could actually distinguish between the naive, innocent boy so bent on proving himself to others from...whatever is was that he had become.

With that thought came a flash of pain, which he quickly clamped down on, irritated with himself. He had changed, yes, but not so he would spend the rest of his life in misery. In fact, he revelled in the change. He preferred it. He lived it.

His smile turned more real as the last, clinging vestiges of what had been Harry Potter fell off his shoulders.

"My name is Alexander Black, but I'd rather go with Alex. It's nice to meet you."

The vampire seemed startled for a moment before relaxing a bit, but something about his expression, which radiated confusion and interest, was setting Alex on edge.

"Are you in any way related to the Black family who lives around here?"

"I don't think so. I might be, I honestly have no idea."

Edward's smile turned a tiny bit more genuine, even when the rest of his facial features radiated tenseness.

"How old are you, if you don't mind me asking?"

Alex inwardly chuckled. The real question is how old you are, Edward the Vampire.

"I'm 17. How about you?"

"17 as well."

Alex winced without meaning to as a sudden realization hit him. The boy in front of him had died when he was 17.

"I take it you're going to the local high-school then? I've enrolled there." He quickly tried to inject some sort of conversation. Edward was looking at him with the strangest mixture of frustration, indecisiveness and confusion. It made him want to turn tail and run at the obvious speculation the vampire was giving him, as if he were trying to analyze him and his motives...

As soon as the thought formed, the sudden awareness of his own mind made him suddenly feel the soft brush of a conscience pushing against his barriers. His eyes widened as he suddenly realized a few things quite suddenly. Reacting on impulse born out of well-embedded pain and sheer disgust at having another mind so close to his caused him to fairly boot Edward out from his mind and subsequently close all entrances which might have been even the slightest bit open before.

His anger rose unbidden at the incredible violation of privacy, one of the things which he held most dear inside of himself. He felt his magic respond to his raging feelings and quickly bit his lip hard to keep from making his rage obvious.

As soon as he felt a drop of blood enter his mouth, he wondered what the hell he'd been thinking to purposely make himself bleed in front of a vampire.

-It doesn't matter- the little voice inside him whispered - You could kill him easily, just like all the others you've killed-

His mind caught up to him in a second and he called up his wandless magic to cast a Scent Suppressing charm. Then, he finally dared to look back up at Edward.

The vampire was tense as stone and his eyes were narrowed in suspicion. Alex took a step back, his own eyes narrowed. Knowing the coming confrontation might not turn out very well, he cast a Disillusionment Charm around them; he prayed it would hold long enough with his tentative control on his magic, but he had been lucky so far, and was intending to push it.

"...How did you do that? I only know one other person who I can't hear, but it's different. One moment the only thing I could hear was a slight buzz and the next...complete silence." He paused, as if unsure. "...and I somehow got the feeling of being...pushed away."

"Yes, well. It's quite rude to just listen in to other people's thoughts, you know? There's such a thing as privacy, and some of us actually like it."

Edward's eyes darkened.

"It's not like I can control it! I just hear other people's thoughts as if they were speaking to me out loud!"

Alex's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "They why did I feel as if you were pushing?"

"Pushing against what?"

Alex turned away with a hint of disgust apparent in his features. "Never mind."

He made as if he were looking at the labels of some of the foods next to him as the silence stretched for a while. Eventually, Edward sighed.

"Look, I'm sorry, okay? Normally people can't even tell, and it's not as if I go spreading around everyone's secrets. I was just checking to see if you were..."

-A danger to you? I could easily be-

"...well, what kind of person you were."

Alex considered for a moment before turning back. For a moment he analyzed the vampire, before making up his mind.

"Follow me outside. I have I few things to make clear and I don't really want others hearing. You probably wouldn't want that either."

Edward still looked suspicious, but nodded as they exited the store. Alex noted that the few people who were in the grocer seemed amazed at the fact that Edward was with him, and even at simply seeing the new-kid with Edward. He wondered if this might actually turn out to be more trouble than it was worth, even if this was an animal-fed vampire, judging by the eyes.

They stopped next to Alex's car and he leaned against the hood, closing his eyes. Edward waited patiently without comment until he once again seemed more composed.

"First, let me warn you of some things. Then I will let you ask some questions, which I may or may not answer. But apart from that, there will be no attacking, no reacting violently, or anything of the sort. Deal?"

As the words came out, Edward seemed to be getting more and more stressed. His body was tense but he seemed receptive. He nodded.

"First off...well, I know you're a vampire." At Edward's apprehensive expression, Alex grinned slightly. "Not to worry, I'm not about to be disclosing this to anyone."

Edward's gaze narrowed. "How can we trust you?"

Alex's eyes widened as he let out a low whistle. "Oh, how many of there are you? 3? 10? Do you have a same sire or are you all unrelated? And by the way, you don't yet know it you can trust me. But you have to keep in mind that it's still better to be on my good side. So spill."

The vampire cursed under his breath, and Alex's grin widened.

"There's 7 of us, me included." Another low whistle. "My sire's name is Carlisle Cullen. 4 of us where sired by him. Alice and Jasper...well, we aren't sure who their sire is. The others are Esme, Rosalie and Emmet. Esme and Carlisle are together, as are Rosalie and Emmet, and Alice and Jasper."

"And what about you?"

The vampire tensed before performing a gesture which appeared to be an attempt at a smile, but which had died half-way.

"I am...with a human right now. She's the other person whose mind I can't read. We don't know why yet, but she just seems to block out other people's powers, at least a bit."

Lex started. "Whoa, wait. A human? That's...very dangerous. And other powers? How many are there in your..."

"Family."

Lex couldn't help the wistful smile which appeared on his face, but he quickly squished it down. The vampire was looking at him with a strange expression, and he frowned.

"Who else has powers?"

For a moment, Edward seemed unsure about telling him, but then continued.

"Jasper is an empath. He can sense feelings and can sort of radiate them around him, so as to change a general atmosphere. Alice can see the future, although her visions are constantly changing as the people's decisions in her visions, and they are not always right."

Lex nodded, filing away all the information for future reference. He'd mull it over tonight. He also made a mental note to put up extra defences on the cabin just in case the vampire and his...family decided that he was too much of a danger to keep around and decided to off him. He was suspicious that that was the only reason Edward was so forthcoming on explanations.

"Now, can you answer some things for me?"

Alex's eyes fixed on Edward's before nodding slightly.

"Okay then. How did you...push me out of your mind? And how did you know I was a vampire?"

Lex smiled. "Where I come from, let's just say that mind-reading and mind-protection are things that you need to learn if you want to survive. I especially had to undergo rather...sever lessons in those function. Before you ask, not everyone can learn it. Just some more...special people. As for the vampire thing, I've had a few encounters with some before, although I must admit that none of them were as...welcoming as you are. And none of them were animal-eaters either. The color of your eyes threw me off for a while."

Edward's features tensed at the mention of other vampires, before a tiny, almost imperceptible smile grew on his lips.

"That brings me to another question I've been wanting to ask since I saw you." The vampire leaned in close to Lex, who had to fight back his initial reaction to the approximation, especially from a vampire.

"What is it?" he asked, his tone showing his displeasure.

"Why are your eyes such a bloody shade of red?"

* * *

TBC-


	2. The Bad Touch

This chapter isn't very long, and I apologize for that. On the other hand, if the chapters are not TOO long, then the updates will be quicker. And plus, I'll get more cliff-hangers. ^w^ My evilness knows no bounds. Nah, I'm kidding. Normally updates will be longer but this time...well, I won't lie, it was just a perfect cliff-hanger. ^w^

A little tiny bit of Lex's rather...unusual characteristics (psychologically) are starting to shine through. In the start, there will be some not-so-subtle hints, but the reasons and the harsher effects will come later (I have to warn you, though...If you were expecting a sweet, innocent Lexy who would just fall into his prince's arms...yeah, wrong story) Also, about the eyes, they're part of the plot. I'll just say that their redness and his ears' sensitivity are for a _reason_.

Draco will appear in a few chapters, so not to worry, but first we need to develop Lex. BTW, this is going to be a realistic fic, so don't expect any sudden falling in love from either. The hints will be there, but Lex's one tough cookie when it comes to feelings, especially admitting to them. And Edward's a little deluded, so there's that to work through too. Don't worry about Bella, she won't be around too long. I don't like her at all, so there might be some minor bashing if the readers want it, but nothing too OOC. As in, Bella won't be all bitchy and snarky, but she _will_ get dumped. ^^ Sooner, rather than later.

And yes, you'll notice Lex has a slight weakness for fast cars. -.- What? He's a teenager! He's allowed!

Thanks so much to all the reviewers!!! I never imagined there would be such a response, but I'm so eternally happy ^^. I'm sorry I haven't gotten the chance to respond to some of the reviews, but school is hectic and I barely have enough time to actually write, let alone respond to everyone. However, I'll make the effort!! That's how much I love you guys :)

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**The Bad Touch**

_-------"Why are your eyes such a bloody shade of red?"--------_

Lex blinked, for a few seconds confused before his mind caught up with him, and he winced internally.

-I'd forgotten about that.-

"Well, my eyes weren't always this color. In fact, they used to be green, my mother's eyes." His voice faltered for a second, but he forced himself to continue, not completely sure why he'd added the last part. "Back at home I was took part in fight and...one of the after-effects turn out to be this." He gestured towards his eyes. "I'm still not accustomed to it, nor am I completely sure how it happened, but I have a pretty good guess. Before you ask, no, it has nothing to do with vampires."

Edward straightened up and looked thoughtful for a moment before seeming to make up his mind.

"Are you going to be at school tomorrow?"

Lex considered for a moment, guessing what it was the vampire wanted.

"You want to introduce me to your family?"

Edward nodded.

"And what about that human you mentioned? What's her name?"

"She's called Bella Swan."

"Does she know..?"

"Yes, she knows my family is all made up of vampires. She says she doesn't care but..." Suddenly, Edward clamped down on his own tongue and looked furious at himself. Lex looked on curiously, but knew that asking wouldn't bring about anything. At the extended silence, he decided to change the subject, but filed away the strange reaction.

"How old are, well, seem to be your siblings?"

"All of them seem to be 18, maybe 19 at most. We all pose as an actual family, all adopted by Carlisle. So, will you meet them?"

Lex shrugged. "I'd rather do so. I'll have to do it sooner or later anyways."

Edward gave him a calculating gaze; then, startling Lex, his lips broke out into a rather charming smile. The most surprising thing was that Lex could feel no threatening feeling behind it, and it wasn't even forced.

"I hope this doesn't turn out to be a bad move, but let's hope we can all get along."

Lex couldn't help the small, genuine smile which spurted forth in his surprise.

"We can always hope."

They stood in silence for a little while longer, both content to just look each other over without even trying to guess at what the other was thinking. Finally, Lex glanced at his watch.

"Well, I came here just to buy groceries and then I have more things to do. I'd probably get on with that."

Edward nodded. "I have to get back to my family. Chances are Alice has seen something about this and they are waiting for me to get back and explain."

Once again, Lex was stunned and suspicious about Edward's forwardness on information, but decided that maybe since he always had to be so careful about what he said to people who didn't know anything, now that someone else was in on the secret, his tongue was looser than even _he_ realized.

With that, Edward gave a slight nod and moved away to his car, a brand new Aspira F620 which had Lex practically drooling as soon as he noticed it. He couldn't stop himself from staring at the black beauty as it pulled out of the garage, and completely missed the amused gaze of the car's occupant as he moved away.

Finally, as car and driver disappeared down the street, Lex managed to shake off the slight car-induced daze and walked back into the grocery shop.

This time, however, all 4 cashier's eyes zoomed in on him, as well as the two other people who were wandering around the aisles. Lex, accustomed to such scrutiny but still rather disgusted by his luck, simply gritted his teeth, clenched down on his magic, and released a small smile to everyone in general. Then, ignoring the people who were shooting him curious glances, he proceeded to fill up on what he would need for the week. After a few minutes, the people seemed to decide that he wasn't all that interesting (even if he _had_ managed to strike up a decent conversation with one of the Cullens) and their gazed drifted away. Lex managed to relax a little, even though he could still feel everyone looking back every once in a while.

-If everyone's going to be this annoying about a small chat with one of their resident immortals, it probably won't be a good idea to mingle with them too much in school, either. I wonder if I can avoid them in school?-

For a moment he wondered if he should call Edward and tell him to put of the meeting, before he realized that he didn't have the vampire's phone number, or even knew where he lived.

He cursed silently before he suddenly remembered Edward's small gift, and grinned.

-I love magic.-

* * *

The next morning, Lex awoke at the crack of dawn, rubbing his eyes and groaning. Long gone were his days of being late to school; now, it was completely impossible for him to sleep past dawn. His inner clock was so messed up anyways, that the time-difference had no effect. He'd had enough sleepless night and cat-naps in London that he had practically mastered the art of falling asleep on cue. He now functioned at two hours of sleep per day, whether he wanted to or not; more often than not, he would stay awake until 3 in the morning, sleep until 5, and then go through his drawn-out morning routine until it was time for the rest of the world to be up. Sometimes it sucked, but during the war-time, it had doubled, or even tripled his chances of survival. After all, the less sleep you needed, the more time you had, to do anything else. Like stay alive.

He proceeded to perform his morning stretching routine, and then went to the bathroom to take a relaxing, 30 minute shower. Even though he had enough money to spend around 8 hours in the shower everyday and still not have a dent in his savings, he still hated to waste such a precious thing. Therefore, he'd placed a small charm on the shower drain and two on the shower top. One to clean and heat the water and the other two were to keep it circulating within the small space. They were a couple nifty charms which he had actually created himself after a lot of studying, and he was thinking of maybe patenting the creation at a later time.

At 7:30 he locked the door to his apartment, making sure the proper wards were in place before climbing into his car and driving off into school. His nerves were less shot than they had been when he'd woken up, but he was still apprehensive about the upcoming reunion. He was still adamant at keeping a low profile, and that included not being overly social or noticeable. Something about the Cullen's gave him the impression that this would affect the latter in a rather negative way.

Before long he was at the school parking lot. No one seemed to pay attention to his car, something which he had counted on thanks to the notice-me-not and concealment charms on the vehicle, but as soon as he got out, a couple faces turned to look at him curiously. Doing his best to be inconspicuous, he managed to get inside the school and into the office without any major mishaps. He walked up to the secretary with a fake, sweet smile.

"Hello, my name is Alexander Black. I'm new here, and I was wondering if you could give me my schedule?"

The secretary seemed to go into a trance for a few seconds as she took him in, and Lex wondered if he was going to need to slap her until she finally seemed to snap out of it and smiled in what surely she thought was a seductive way back at him. Lex bearly managed not to cringe at the unusually lecherous expression on her face. He wasn't accostumed to it, after all.

"Oh! Of course, here's your schedule, Mr. Black," she said, purring on his name. Lex's eye twitched slightly.

"...Thank you."

He shook himself of the strange feeling of trepidation and disgust he was getting and quickly got out of the office. He had 5 minutes to find his first class, Math, and he wasn't sure how far away it was. Suddenly he felt a familiar presence walk up behind him, and without thinking he turned around with a scowl. "Cullen."

Edward looked surprised at the sudden hostility in his tone, and Lex himself was rather surprised at how he'd reacted so negatively; however, there was just something about the vampire that raised his hackles and activated his magic, and neither in a good way. However, for the sake of appearances, he managed to tone the glare down and even managed a small smile.

"I'm sorry. I'm just...tired," he said, knowing Edward could tell it was an outright lie and hoping he'd let it pass.

Edward looked skeptical for a moment, but nodded.

"It's fine. I'm sure the jet lag is affecting you."

Lex nodded, grateful for the presented excuse.

"Look, Cullen..."

"Edward."

Lex's expression blanked and his eyes turned flinty as he considered the request, knowing that it was more than just politeness. He's rather have stayed at arms length with all of the Cullen's, but it seemed as if they were going to make some effort to make sure that their ties were stronger than that. He acquitted that they had reason for it, and it was probably unfair of his part to ask them to trust him in such a way when they couldn't even be sure of what kind of person he was. He sighed, knowing that his earlier plan of being unnoticed and normal was being shot straight out the window.

-On the second day, too. Nice.-

"...Edward...well, when am I going to meet them, then?"

Edward seemed to relax slightly, even though Lex knew that nobody who didn't have as unnaturally good eye-sight as Lex now had (or was a vampire) would have been able to notice. This, more than anything, proved his earlier suspicions.

"How about you sit at lunch with us?"

Lex flinched mentally. It was obvious the vampires meant to make their reunion as public as possible to prevent other problems. Well, he didn't really want to socialize, anyways.

"...Okay."

Suddenly, the bell rang, startling Lex and causing him to curse as the shrill sound cut painfully into his sensitive ears. Edward had gone tense, which indicated his own pain at the dastardly noise. Thankfully, it ended rather soon, and Lex let his hands drop with a relieved sigh.

"I honestly don't get how you can stand that sound. It was very annoying before...well, before; now I'm sure I have internal bleeding. It must hurt you like a bitch, too."

Edward's eyes narrowed, and Lex tensed as he knew the vampire had caught his slight slip. Seemed like both their tongues were rather loose.

"Are you...completely human?"

Lex blinked once, then twice; then, he surprised both the vampire and himself by letting out a real, mirthful laugh which lasted a few seconds.

"...I would have thought by now you'd have figured that out yourself," he said, amusement still present in his voice. Edward's expression had shifted into something which had Lex's skin prinkling uncomfortably, and he hurriedly took out his schedule.

"Hey, do you know where class 8C is? It's my math class."

Edward seemed to shake himself free of something before nodding and pointing toward one end of the hallways.

"It's right down there, the 4 door to the left."

Lex thanked him and started walking over with a rather more hurried pace, knowing he was soon to be late.

"Lex!"

For a moment, he didn't recognize it; but then the sound of his new name coming from Edward's mouth registered and he turned quickly, thanking Merlin that he'd managed to remember that this was now his name. He'd probably have to be careful about reacting to 'Harry' for a while.

"What is it? I'll be late."

Edward stood for a moment in silence and Lex considered leaving, when the vampire suddenly flashed him a crooked grin before turning and disappearing down the corner.

Lex stared after him; he blinked a few times before simply shrugging and dismissing it as some strange vampire issue. Besides, he was about to be late to class.

The bell rung just as he stepped in, and the teacher turned to him with a scowl which quickly became a smile, if a bit forced.

"Mr. Black! What a pleasure to have you with us. I'm glad you managed to find the classroom in time."

Lex wasn't sure if the comment had been made in a slightly sarcastic way, but he brushed it off and smiled at her. Her expression seemed to turn a bit more genuine.

"Very well, we were about to start. How about you get the empty seat next to Ms. Swan? She was new last year, so she might be able to help you out."

Lex turned as soon as he heard her name, recognizing it as Edward's girlfriend. He wondered what kind of person could have actually caught a vampire's attention, and was very disappointed to come face-to-face withe girl, Bella. She had long brown hair and extremely pale skin, and Lex thought she was really quite attractive is a normal sort of way. Out of curiosity, he decided to test out his control on his Legimency (which he'd been practicing since the end of the war) and prodded her mind. He encountered a thick, rather brusque wall which was shutting him out, but he knew it nothing he couldn't have easily bowled down if he really wanted to, or kept out any real threats. Still, it was rather impressive for a normal human without knowledge of either magic or even the supernatural, and it could probably keep people like Edward and the other vampires out as well, which either spoke of her level, or theirs.

He offered her a smile which she returned shyly after a second, avoiding his eyes, as he sat down beside her. As the class started, he turned towards her and stretched out a hand. If this was Edward's girlfriend, he might as well make acquaintance with her as soon as possible.

"Hi, my name is Alexander Black, but I prefer Lex. Your name is Bella, right?"

Bella seemed startled for a moment, before smiling shyly and hesitantly shaking his hand. Lex had to grind his teeth in annoyance at the sheer weakness that seemed to radiate off of her, the complete incapability of dealing with life on her own, even if she did have a harder control on her mind. However, he quickly reprimanded herself. Why should she be like that? She hadn't ever had to go through a stupid war. She hadn't had ever had a chance to kill.

A chance to realize that killing was something she actually enjoyed doing.

Quickly shutting off that train of thought, he brought his attention back to the girl, who appeared about to ask something. She raised her gaze, since up until then had been avoiding his eyes; her own eyes widened in surprise and shock as she took in his irises. Lex had to bite his cheek to keep from grinning.

"Oh god! Are you...?"

Lex wondered if he should play with her for a while, and finally settled for wide, evil-hiding-behind-innocence eyes and a cat-who-ate-the-cream grin on his face.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

Bella snatched back her hand from his grip with a horrified look on her face, and Lex had to force back a snort. They had been touching; she should have figured out that since his skin wasn't ice cold, or hard, or that he wasn't ethereally beautiful, then chances were he wasn't a vampire. He wondered what it was that Edward saw in her, and wondered if he really was the sort of person to go for looks only.

-The mind thing probably was an important catalyst, though,- he admitted silently. Then he chuckled a tiny bit, nearly bursting out into laughter as Bella scooted her chair farther away at the sound. -Maybe I should introduce him to _my _world. Plenty of closed minds _there._-

They didn't speak for the remainder of the class. As soon as the bell rang, Bella ran off in a hurry, her expression scared and panicked. Lex laughed silently, hoping that she would run to her _dear_ Edward with some wild, exaggerated story about how he was an evil vampire bent on destroying them all. He sort of hoped that she claimed that he had tried to eat her, and wished that he'd played up the act a bit more just to see her squirm, but at least this way she didn't actually have anything against him. After all, he, unlike her, _could_ actually open up his mind willingly and show Edward his memories. Besides, Edward and the others would be able to tell that he wasn't a vampire anyways.

In general, he wasn't worried about the outcome. If worse came to worse, he was pretty sure he could kill them all. Or maybe simply Obliviate? Such a hard choice...

-Today might actually turn out to be quite fun.-

* * *

TBC-


	3. Papercut

Wow I am so so so sorry that I took so long to update. Unfortunately, I'm in finals at this moment and am suffering like you have no idea. Actually, you probably do, never mind ^^. Other than that, let me warn you of a few things, even though I'm sure the cleverer of you out there can figure it out on your own.

Yes, I changed Lex's name to Alex because...well, there was something about Lex that made me wince every time I wrote it, and Alex seems more to fit 'Harry' than Lex did, soooo...Alex it is.

Other than that, you'll just have to keep on reading to figure some things out, although there are many clues in this chapter. Also, this isn't going to be very fast in relashionship development, especially on Alex's part. Edward here jumps the gun, so don't freak out over that either. It'll be explained later.

I promise I'll try to update faster as well, but I can't really promise anything ^^0. Sorry. On the other hand, thank you SO MUCH to every one who reviewed. You have no idea how much I appreciate them. As well, you're all giving me some wonderful ideas for ways to humiliate Bella, which I shall take into account ^w^. Remember, more reviews means faster updates! And any questions are welcome. I can't promise I'll answer if they ruin the plot though, so don't hold your breath on it either. But no one'll be left in the blank if the question isn't actually relevant, so no worries.

And yes, Bella's on the fast train to the dumpee pile. I can just hear every Bella-Basher jumping around in joy just about now ^^

**A/N: I have updated this chapter cause I reread it and yes it was VERY confusing. Also, all the reviewers were very, very confused, so hopefully now it's clearer. Also, let's just say that Edward is DELUDED and Alex knows this, which is what pisses him off. It's kind of a touchy subject for him, so his reaction is more...violent than usual ^^ Hopefully now it's better.**

* * *

**Papercut**

_-----------Today might actually turn out to be quite fun.-------------_

Alex entered the cafeteria ten minutes after the bell had already rung, just to make sure that all the people who were going to be there, already were. As well, he also planned on giving Bella enough time to make up a decent story and tell it to the vampire family with all the theatrics included. Frankly, if he showed up and they didn't react to him strangely, he would be very disappointed in the brunette girl; not that he wasn't already, but there weren't any limits.

Actually, he really was more disappointed on Edward. Honestly. The last deer he'd eaten from before meeting Bella probably had rabies or something.

He quickly noted the cliques which were obvious in the cafeteria. There were the popular kids, which were seated in a table near the middle. In such a backwater, small place as this, the people were rather normal-looking in comparison to, say, Hogwarts; no obvious cheerleader bitches or muscled-up jocks, but it was still obvious from the sheer amount of noise coming from their table who they were.

Near them was the wannabes. They looked rather pathetic to Alex. Not that most people didn't, but wannabes were a special case. Near the edge were a group of normal-looking people who didn't actually seem to be trying to make fools of themselves, and Alex immediately knew that if he hadn't become part of the weirdo group already, he probably would have become friends with them. A small sigh escaped his lips as he realized that being normal was something that just seemed to evade him at every turn. Another one of Fate's little jokes on him; it was probably laughing right now, too.

After a quick sweep of the rest of the people around, who didn't all really seem too interesting, his eyes immediately gravitated to the table were the vampires were sitting, a bit further away from all other tables so that it was slightly isolated. Bella, who was sitting with them and was the only one actually eating food instead of just being silent and looking at it, stuck out like the brilliantly sore thumb she was.

Alex growled under his breath in annoyance, although neither his pace nor his expression changed as he approached them slowly. Her normal, human presence made the fact that the vampires were different so much more obvious, that it hurt Alex to watch.

After a moment, his eyes slid over to the other occupants on the table. Next to Bella sat Edward, who had tensed as soon as he'd noticed Alex nearing. On his right sat a small, pixie-like girl with small features. She seemed to radiate hyper-activity, and Alex grinned as she turned to him and their gazes caught. Her eyes seemed to narrow and widen for a moment before a look of utter confusion crossed her features sharply. The male, blonde vampire to her right seemed to be mimicking her as he took Alex's appearance in. His eyes narrowed and his body tensed perceptively, even to normal human-vision.

Next to him, the most beautiful blonde...girl Alex had ever seen looked up sharply as he approached. Her glare nearly caused his step to falter, but he simply sent her an arrogant grin and a clear warning with his eyes that he wasn't as frail as he looked.

The first word that came to his mind as soon as he saw the last Cullen was simply "Huge." He didn't have much time to make any sort of judgments about any of them apart from general appearances before Bella noticed him and started yammering to Edward.

"Edward! Edward! That's him! That's the vampire I was telling you about..."

"Bella."

"...and he was looking at me with that hungry look that James sort of also had which was..."

"Bella!"

"...and I was so scared that no one would be able to do anything if he tried because you know how the..."

"BELLA! Shut up!"

The brunette girl looked up with widened eyes at Edward, who was looking rather annoyed and slightly amazed at himself.

Alex himself was rather surprised at the volume of his voice, and a quick glance at the other vampires revealed that they too seemed rather shocked at Edward's volume, and probably at his words as well. He stored the strange reactions away for further analysis later on and plastered a fake grin on his face, intent on taking advantage of this at a later time. For now he'd just enjoy the show.

"He's not a vampire, Bella," Edward said after a moment or awkward silence. She stared at him in disbelief.

"But his eyes..."

"His eyes are red, yes," he said, his eyes flashing to Alex in a gesture that said that he too was wondering about the reason for it. "But that doesn't make him a vampire. For all you know, he could be wearing contacts," he said, although he obviously didn't think that was the real reason.

Alex snorted in disgust at the suggestion, but managed to keep an amused face on as Bella seemed to finally understand at least a small bit how stupid she had been to assume so much from Alex's taunting actions. Then, she once again pulled up to Edward with a pitiful expression. Alex noticed with curiosity that Edward actually tensed and seemed to move slightly away from her, although no one else seemed to notice.

"But how does he know about vampires then?"

Edward seemed to tense and Alex couldn't help the snort of laughter which bubbled up from his throat. So much for having decades of experience avoiding humans; Edward hadn't even bothered to ask about that when they'd been talking, and Alex was prepared to bet that the question hadn't even crossed his mind.

"Yes. How _do_ you know about us?"

From the other side of the table, the blonde girl's glare intensified as it switched to Edward.

"One second. You mean he already knew before you told him?"

Edward looked caught and guilty for a moment as he glanced at the rest of his coven mates who were all staring at him with the same sort of accusing and worried look that Bella was sporting. Alex, sensing a coming storm, quickly cast a strong Disillusionment charm around them and waited for the bomb to go off.

One second later he found himself holding back the blonde girl from strangling him with her bare hands, her eyes flashing crimson. His wandless magic had reacting on pure instinct to keep her fingers from crushing his throat. However, as soon as his mind caught up with the situation, Alex growled low and sent a sharp, painful shock through the girl's body, who let out a shrill cry and fell back. She stood up quickly and with all the grace of a killer, her eyes flashing with murderous intent at the humiliation and the promise of a powerful threat. The rest of the family stood up as one and crouched, ready to attack.

Alex quickly shot a Confundus at Bella so she wouldn't be aware of what was going on and reinforced his Disillusionment charm before unleashing a distinctive wave of magic on the vampires. It didn't actually harm them, and in fact they bearly felt it, but they all shivered from the power and dark feelings of bloodlust that suddenly seemed to emanate from Alex, whose passive expression had turned icy and commanding.

"Listen here. I don't want any trouble, and I'm sure you don't either. Now, I may explain later _how_ I did it, if I feel like it, but nothing that happens for the next while will be seen by anyone apart from us, so don't try anything that you'll regret later." He passed a slight glance at Bella to indicate that she wasn't included in their small group before once again turning to the vampires, who were all looking at him with slightly different expressions. Edward was looking confused and worried, but not particularly aggressive. The small girl wasn't actually looking too upset, either. In fact she was the only one who had remained in her seat, and was even grinning, even though it looked a bit forced; Alex could sense nervousness coming from her, but she didn't seem too threatening, apart from the whole vampire thing. On the other hand, the other three were looking ready to kill him; the only thing that Alex knew was holding them back was the other people around them, which Alex had counted on would slow them down, even if at first had been adverse to the idea of having a crowd around them. Although, the wave of magic probably hadn't hurt either.

"I can kill you all right here, right now, if I wanted to." He glared sharply at the blonde to remind her of the sharp shock he'd given her, promising with the gaze that that was nowhere near the full extent of his powers. "But I won't, because I don't make a sport out of killing."

He sensed more than saw the other blonde male's, disbelief at this, and realized after a moment that this was probably Jasper, the empath. He wondered what type of feelings he was giving out right now, and how the dark magic had affected his empath powers. After all, the unleashed magic was supposed to make normal people sense his feelings, for intimidation; what must Jasper have felt?

Edward interrupted his musings then, his gaze calculating but also trusting, an emotion which shocked Alex so much he nearly broke his Disillusionment due to the increadible rareness with which he'd seen that gaze shot at him.

"I don't think you want to harm us," he said, probably more for the benefit of his family than for Alex, who didn't really need his assurance. "I can't read your thoughts directly; however, you probably know that since I actually gained the ability when I became a vampire, then I have always been rather proficient at reading people naturally." He turned towards the rest of the vampires, especially the smaller girl who Alex guessed was Alice; after all, she was the only one who seemed rather calm and even, dare she be, happy; with what was going on, she was either very thick (not likely; she might be hyper-active, but she looked rather sharp), could read his mind (even less likely for multiple reasons) or she could see the future. And the third option fit rather nicely.

She nodded at Edward's unasked question, and Alex wondered if she could see his future too; it might actually cause problems if she could, because then Edward could, with his own powers, then pluck the memory from her mind and see it too. But she also seemed rather adept at keeping things hidden from her brother; after all, after living so long with a mind-reader, you _had_ to learn some way to keep some thoughts private. He wondered if she was seeing some nice future with them all being friends. Somehow, the idea didn't cause the small voice inside him to scorn as it usually would. In fact, it was rather suspiciously silent, and Alex wondered for a moment if something had happened to it before snorting mentally. After a moment of silence, Alex decided that he was tired of standing and reined in his magic so that the atmosphere came back to normal, and grinned.

"Therefore, what's the verdict? Can I sit with you guys and have a civil conversation like a group of civilized…er…beings?" Alex asked with honeyed irony dripping from his tone, his patience running out.

The vampires looked undecided for the moment, but then Edward grabbed Bella and moved her to the other side of the bench he was sitting on, gesturing for Alex to take her seat. The wizard noted with growing amusement that the vampire had barely touched her at all, but decided right now was not the best time to comment.

With a flick of his wand, which had been hidden inside his sleeve since the start, he dispelled the charm around them and brought Bella back to the land of the conscious. She blinked for a few seconds before her gaze landed on Alex, who was sitting comfortably next to Edward and seemed to be completely unaffected by the heated glares the other vampires were shooting at him, especially Rosalie's.

"Edward! What…"

"He's going to sit with us during Lunch. Get to know each other, you know? He's an okay guy if you get to know him."

Alex nearly choked on the apple he'd been munching through at the moment at the incredibly fake happy tone Edward had used, and it even caused the huge Cullen, who Alex guessed to be Emmett since he was running out of names, to crack a rather huge smile.

"Well, if we're going to get along, I'll introduce myself. My name is Emmett Cullen; this beautiful ball of sunshine here is my mate, Rosalie Hale." Rosalie shot him a glare before huffing and, with a flourish that Alex had thought no one capable of but Draco, brought out a nail file and began to grind on her nails delicately. Emmett's joyous voice seemed to break the ice a little, but it also attracted a few curious stares from the tables around them, who up until then had been completely unaware of the newest addition to the Cullen table and Alex winced slightly.

"Hi! I'm Alice! Edward's told me a little about you, and frankly a little too much about me, but that doesn't really matter; besides, what you did just now was rather scary, but amazing and if you could I would love it if later you'd explain how you did the whole thing and maybe tell me more about you and your eyes, which on you actually look rather fitting instead of on a rather petite and frankly not very intimidating…er…person like me!" she said, her voice enthusiastic but not annoying and her mouth running at 100 miles per second, while still smiling and actually managing to look adorable and cute rather than strange or crazy. Alex looked at her strangely for a moment, before the first real laugh he'd had since coming here burst forward as he smiled brightly at Alice, who looked immensely pleased at the fact that she'd made him happy.

"I'd also like to be friends. Maybe later I'll explain, and I'm sure I can tell you something about myself, once you also reveal some things. Fair's fair, after all," he said, smiling genuinely. She nodded happily before turning to Jasper, who was actually smiling a little bit. Alex somehow immediately felt that he and Jasper could be great friends, if given the chance, although he wasn't sure why.

"I'm Jasper, Alice's mate. She's rather good with people, so I trust her judgment. You seem to be a rather…interesting person, besides," he said, sounding rather amazed and curious. Alex himself was also rather curious about the blonde vampire and his powers. Mind reading he was no stranger to, and frankly, for him, the future would happen when the future happened. Emotions were on the other hand something he'd never completely understood, and he was rather eager to explore into that subject.

"I'm going to take that as a compliment," he said, grinning good-naturedly to show that he meant no offense and was only joking. "I'm sure she's good, what with her…abilities and all. You also seem like a very interesting person too, and that's a pretty big compliment from me. I'm going to have to talk to you a lot about your own abilities, so get prepared," he said. He was sure Jasper sensed his childish eagerness, because a small amount of the tenseness which seemed to be etched onto his shoulders relaxed, and he noticed with satisfaction that the blonde's expression turned slightly less pained and more amused.

A surprised glance from Jasper shot to his right brought his curious gaze on Edward, who was looking at him with a strange expression on his face. Alex raised an eyebrow at him, quirking his lips into a grin which didn't reach his eyes. Edward suddenly blanked before he seemed to collect himself and shoot him a rather forced looking smile before motioning to the clock which was stuck on the door.

"We have about 10 minutes before Lunch is over. Do you want to go outside?"

Alex's eyes widened in surprise, but he nodded. Suddenly Bella, who was feeling quite a bit left out from the whole conversation (and honestly, they had all almost forgotten she was there) grabbed onto Edward's arm.

"But I haven't finished eating yet!" she said, her mouth turning into a pout which nearly made Alex gag.

Alex hid a grin as he saw Edward shoot him an annoyed look before turning to the girl clinging to his hand.

"You can finish eating without us; or else, your other friend's table is always open."

Bella seemed to be rather surprised at his answer, but she quickly put her food on her tray and stood, walking around for a moment before sitting down at the popular people's table. Alex snorted in disgust.

"Oh, now I know why she closes off her mind so well; after all, god forbid the space inside her skull ever get filled with anything, especially air," he muttured silently, but he was sure the vampires heard him since Jasper cracked him a smile and Rosalie's expression flashed with amusement for a second before returning to her brooding, although she seemed less angry. Alex winked before walking out into the school's yard with Edward at his side, who was looking as if he wanted to say something, but wasn't sure how. They walked around the building for a while in silence before Alex decided to voice a few questions that had been pestering his brain.

"Why are you with her if you don't like her?"

Edward seemed startled at the sudden voice, but recuperated quickly and thought about the answer for a few moments.

"She wasn't always like this," he said finally after a moment of hesitation. "When I first met her, I'll admit that the first thing that attracted her to me was her blood; well, that and the fact that I couldn't read her mind." His eyes seemed to cloud over as he remembered. "It was such a relief, such a breath of fresh air. I could be around her and not hear her thoughts. It's like always hearing people talking around you and never getting a moment of peace; then, suddenly you meet this one person who can actually keep secrets from you, who can actually _lie_, who you don't have to know everything about without them telling you." He drew in a breath, even though Alex knew he didn't need to. At that moment though, the vampire seemed very human, and Alex couldn't help but wonder exactly how much time Edward had yearned for a person whose mind he couldn't read.

"It does seem rather…disturbing to not be able to turn it off. I'd probably go crazy. Oh wait, too late," he said, grinning as he tried to lighten the suddenly heavy mood. Edward flashed him an amused smile before sighing.

"But it was a stupid choice, with her. There's nothing special, even if I can't read her mind. I still know what she's thinking, because she's exactly the same as everyone else. There's nothing _special_ about her, at all. In fact, it's even worse not to be able to read her mind and yet still know what she's thinking. It's so completely…"

"Disappointing?" Alex said. He'd often felt that same feeling as Edward probably now was, and could relate to the utter helplessness he'd felt when he'd honestly realized it.

"I've had that happen too," Alex said after a few seconds of silence. The vampire turned and looked at him, waiting for the rest of the words. Alex hurt as he saw the loss in the vampire's hazel eyes, simply because they reminded him so much of the person he once was, of the boy that Edward had once been.

_- He died when he was 17.-_

"The first few times it had hurt rather badly, but after a while I just kind of got used to being disappointed in that way." He shrugged, but he was sure that even someone as perceptive as Bella would have been able to see the deep seated hurt in his eyes and posture. "Once it happens enough…well...it never really stops hurting, but you learn to deal with it. It's like…"

"…a wound that never closes." Edward finished for him. Alex nodded after a second. They stood in silence before Alex started walking again. Edward followed and they traversed the rest of the way around the school in silence before coming to a stop besides the school doors.

"Bella's not the only one, you know. And neither am I."

Edward's eyes shot up to Alex, who grinned crookedly. "Where I come from, there are quite a few who could probably keep you out. In fact," he said, his eyes glinting as an idea suddenly came to him, "I'm sure I know a few people who could teach you to close your own mind! So you could stop hearing everybody!"

"But I would still be able to open it if I needed to, right?" Edward said, disbelief and hope etched into his voice at the possibility. Alex nodded eagerly.

"Of course. Wouldn't that be great? Actually…" his tone suddenly dropped and Edward seemed to deflate.

"What is it?"

Alex hurried to reassure the vampire who was now looking as down as before.

"It's not that I won't be able to do it! It's just that…let's say that I won't be able to do it for a while. But I promise I can teach you some basics meanwhile. After all, you've been waiting for a couple decades at least, I'm sure you can wait 2 year more."

"91."

"What?"

"I've been able to do this for 91 years."

Alex let out a low whistle.

"Whoa. And you were turned at 17. You're _old_." Suddenly, his lips split into a childish grin and he stuck a finger out at Edward.

"Pedophile!"

Edward's expression blanched in shock for a moment before he suddenly burst out laughing. Alex joined him and they laughed until the end-of-lunch bell rang, and they hurried to go inside with Alex holding his stomach and moaning about laughing too hard and pedophilic vampires.

"And here I was, naïve innocent being shocked at marriages with a 50 year difference."

Edward chuckled bemusedly before pushing Alex lightly into his Literature classroom, which nearly sent him crashing against a wall.

"Bloody vampires," Alex muttered as he took a seat next to Edward, who was thankfully near the back. Edward shot him an amused glance before his expression suddenly switched to something else, reminiscent to what he'd looked like earlier. Alex's eyes narrowed in confusion for a moment before realization suddenly hit him, and his eyes widened.

-No. You can't do this to me. Not _you_ of all people!-

Alex moved his gaze quickly to the board, a feeling of dread climbing up from his guts as a familiar type of disappointment ran through his body at the emotions he could see flickering in Edward's gaze. Edward's**_ infatuated_** gaze.

He ignored Edward and his attempts at talking through until the end of the class in utter frustration and, when the bell rang, he hurried out of the classroom, ignoring the vampire's calls for him to wait. He knew he wouldn't be able to escape completely, but for now, the feeling of betrayal was too obvious for him to be able to face the vampire without simply hexing him.

He let out a startled yelp as he was dragged from his thoughts as a cold hand clamped on his arm and he was whirled around to meet Edward's worried and angry gaze. Alex was shocked and amazed that he'd been so into his thoughts that he hadn't noticed the vampire coming up behind him; that the vampire had actually _come after him_ in the first place.

"What do you want?" he snarled out of reflex, feeling a sense of déjà vu with their first meeting. Edward seemed to feel it too as his hold loosened slightly.

"What happened in there? You suddenly just...started ignoring me and looking really pissed off."

Alex frowned, while inside he whined at the sheer unfairness of the whole situation; the warmth in Edward's eyes was _still there!_ He tugged at his arm, but knew it was futile; the vampire wasn't really hurting him, and he didn't really want to hurt Edward either. Although, to be fair, it was becoming more and more a choice the longer he stood still and looked him in the eyes.

_-One day! Just one bloody day and it's already gone to hell! Why am I so __stupid!-_

Alex snarled. "You are just…uh! You're all the same! You're all the bloody same!" he said, his temper flashing. Edward let go of his arm as his eyes widened.

"What do you mean?"

Alex shot him a vicious glare before taking a step back.

"Just **one day** and you're already...

_-falling-_

...being stupid. Very, very stupid. And when you decide to stop being stupid, I'll be with Jasper."

With that, he turned and didn't spare a second glance at Edward, who was looking at him with a mixture of surprise, confusion and despair that didn't express even half of the emotions that were currently running through his undead body.

"_But it was a stupid choice, with her. There's nothing special, even if I can't read her mind. I still know what she's thinking, because she's exactly the same as everyone else."_

_**"You're all the same! You're all the bloody same!"**_

* * *

TBC-


	4. Drown

Hi! Don't kill me!

Wow. I took so long to finally get up another chapter, and I am so, so, so incredibly sorry. The truth is my muse ran away with someone else, an I just had no inspiration for this story to speak of, and frankly I didn't want to write something that it didn't feel like writing. I'm so sorry. I'll try to update for frequently, but I can't really promise anything. Although, know that I didn't die. That's always good, right? ^^

In this chapter, Edward won't appear, but I need to explain some stuff, so don't worry, he'll be back next chapter. There's a bit more on Tom, and Britain, and especially jasper. Draco will also be appearing. ^^ Probs a JBDM, but still not sure. Tell me what you think, any other pairings you may want. Obviously, I get the last call, but you are all important to the process.

I really, really like reviews!! *hint hint* I'm so sorry, for not updating sooner, again. But I promise that never again will I take so long! By the way, the song is 'Drown' by Three Days Grace

**UPDATE!!!: I'm so, so sorry for everyone who read this chapter before the change, and to those who didn't, just ignore this message! I erased the werewolf incident at the end (which I will not go into further detail on, due to plot problems) since I realized that it didn't go with the plot path that I was planning on. So, so sorry!!! **

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**Drown**

_--------"You're all the same! You're all the bloody same!"---------_

Alex arrived home with a slight air of annoyance hanging around him, but other than that no one would have been able to really tell that there was anything particularly wrong with him. As soon as he reached his living room, he collapsed onto his couch with a sigh. He waved his wand lazily as the iPod which he'd bought as soon as he'd arrived in USA plugged itself into the speakers and started playing.

_Good morning day  
Sorry I'm not there  
But all my favorite friends  
Vanished in the air  
It's hard to fly, when you can't even run  
Once I had the world, but now I've got no one_

Alex stood up with a groan as he moved over to the kitchen and plucked out a diet coke from the fridge, leaning against the counter as he allowed memories of his past to wash over him in a fashion that he hadn't allowed in a while.

He missed the memories he'd had of everyone, the hopes he'd had. In the end, they'd all simply gone and…disappeared. Not in body, although now he supposed that they were dead and actually gone physically too. No; they'd abandoned him from the moment when he'd found out what they really thought of him, what they really saw him as. Ron and Hermione had hurt, yes, but he could get over it. They were only young teenagers with dreams of making friends with the hero of the war, with the powerful, clever, smart and witty Harry Potter. They'd tried to be there for him when he was just Harry, but it had become clear _then _that real acceptance as just Harry was just not going to happen.

Remus and Sirius had been rather hard, but eventually he thought he understood. They saw, more than him or even the Savior, his father. A smart, popular, amazing person who wasn't afraid to do anything and whose greatest wish was to live a life full of adventure and excitement. They had taken a while to honestly realize that Harry Potter was not James Potter, and when they did, they hadn't been able to hide their own unfair disappointment from a boy who, more than anything, needed acceptance.

_If I needed someone to control me  
If I needed someone to hold me down  
I would change my direction  
And save myself before I  
If I needed someone to control me  
If I needed someone to push me around  
I would change my direction  
And save myself before I drown…_

Dumbledore had been, by far, the person who had actually hurt Alex the most. Not completely because of the feelings linked to the old man, but because of the brutal nature with which Harry had been forced to accept that to him, Harry Potter had always been just a tool; that Dumbledore's twinkling blue eyes had been, from the start, just as grandfatherly and warm as Tom's hard, crimson gaze. In fact, if Alex now had to compare, Tom held more warmth for Harry himself than Dumbledore ever had, although this had only become obvious after the incident near the end of the war which had given Harry his new eyes, literally and metaphorically.

_- One thing I will always thank you for, Tom, will be for opening my eyes.-_

Alex sardonically raised his glass in a faint toast to the ex-Dark Lord, who had given him so much without either of them truly realizing it until it was too late. They had both suffered, yes, but Alex wouldn't change what he was now for anything, no matter the cost. True, he missed certain parts of himself which he'd lost, but overall he didn't regret anything. Not one part of him which had died over the years had been an unwanted or unnecessary sacrifice, and he knew that if he ever had the chance do everything in his life again, he wouldn't change anything, if he could once again get to the place were he was now.

_Good morning day  
Sorry you're not here  
All those times before  
Were never this unclear  
It's hard to walk when you can't even crawl  
Once I had this world, but now I've lost it all_

A faint knocking outside his door startled him out of his reverie and he quickly tapped into the charms he'd placed around the house to identify the visitor. He was surprised to see that it was Jasper, and he grinned happily. He'd invited the vampire over to his as soon as he'd seen him again in school, intent on having a decent conversation. The vampire had said that he'd come over later if he could, but hadn't promised anything, so Alex was rather pleasantly surprised.

He ran over to the door with the coke still grasped in his hand and yanked open the door with an unusually childish expression on his face. He still wasn't sure why, but simply seeing Jasper put him completely at ease in almost any situation, even while he had barely talked to him for 1 hour at school an had only met him 4 hours ago. Apparently, Jasper also felt the pull because Alex had gotten the impression that he wasn't really a people person, even inside his family; yet, here he was, smiling widely at Alex as though they had known each other since forever and looking more at ease than he seemed to be accustomed to, something which at the same time amused and saddened Alex. He wasn't sure exactly what Jasper was suffering from, but he wanted to make it better.

They had had a rather interesting conversation back at school, about a basic overview of Alex's World. Jasper had shown himself to be very understanding and open-minded, something that at the same time surprised and pleased Alex; he despised close-minded people.

_-Wonder where that stems from.-_

They hadn't had much time back then, which was why Alex had invited the blonde over to his new house. He'd be the first to find out a bit more in depth about Alex's past and one of the few who would know about Tom, Alex had decided. He would have liked to say that it was solely for the purpose of being friends, or their trust in each other which seemed to come out of no where, but Alex couldn't quite lie to himself.

_-It'll make him so much easier to manipulate in the long run, as well as give me an excuse to make him...disappear if need be.-_

He pushed away the thought, partly because he knew Jasper would be able to sense the maliciousness in it, and partly because he really _did_ like the vampire and felt slightly bad about being so...practical.

_-I blame war. Not that I regret it, or anything.-_ Once again he ignored the vicious voice and focused on Jasper, who didn't seem to have noticed anything, and let a wide, only slightly-fake grin cover his face.

"Hey! I'm so glad you could make it! I just arrived from the store, and was about to cook something for myself. I also coincidentally have a Creature Cookbook, with vampire recipes inside, and I confess I've been rather curious to make some, so I hope you haven't eaten yet!"

Jasper laughed good-naturedly and Alex moved aside so the vampire could enter his house. He somehow could feel that the vampire didn't laugh too often, and he made a promise to himself to make the vampire laugh as much as possible in the times that they were together. He moved directly to the kitchen after locking the door, and took out the Cookbook which he'd bought a while ago as a joke with Draco; they'd been joking about the blonde's apparent Veela lineage and Alex's eyes had landed on the book. The blonde had bought it for him with a promise to sometime cook something for him, just to see how good it was; Draco had become a fan of his cooking as soon as he'd tried Alex's dishes, and he made a practice of buying Alex any ingredients he needed to make the recipes he wanted. Although they'd never really found out if Draco was part Veela, Alex claimed that the blonde liked the Veela recipes more than any other.

Alex sighed wistfully as he remembered his blonde best friend, the only part he'd regretted leaving behind in Britain, causing Jasper to look at him questioningly. Alex smiled at him.

"I'm just remembering my best friend from back in England," he said, moving around the kitchen and gathering the ingredients for the lasagna he was going to make; he'd read in the book that it could be eaten by both vampires and humans, and he'd been dying to make from a while ago. Jasper nodded, silently asking for more information which Alex gave freely, loving the chance to gush about some of the few happy memories he had of his last year in England.

"His name is Draco Malfoy. It's actually rather funny, because when we first met we hated each other's guts; I because he was everything that I had been trained by…well, the world I had been brought up in to hate. He was a bully and snobbish, and so completely full of himself that I couldn't stand it."

Jasper noted with amusement that even though Alex was apparently talking about someone he had hated, his voice was filled with affection and love. He wondered briefly if they had ever been anything more than friends, but Alex seemed to read his mind and shook his head, grinning.

"We never actually got together; from the start, our affections were that of friends. Never brothers, either, because we were actually friends with benefits for a while, and if I'd thought of him as my brother during _that_, then it might have been slightly awkward."

Jasper laughed at the emotions of disgust he could feel coming from Alex as he read through some recipes in the Creature Cookbook, very interested in the cooking methods and how the food was prepared so that vampires could eat it.

"So how is this Wizarding world of yours? Is it very different from the…what was the word? For non-magical people?"

Alex smiled at him as he laid out the lower pasta into the lasagna pan, spreading it out slowly. "Muggles, and yes, it is very different. Actually, it's pretty funny because, since wizards use magic for so much that technology makes up for, they are kind of stuck in the 17th century. Some of the wizards –called Muggle-lovers by some – are very fascinated by Muggle appliances, which is rather funny sometimes since they have no idea how they work. Wizards are very dependent on magic, you see, just like Muggles are so dependent on technology."

Jasper nodded in understanding.

"Yes. I can see how that would affect relationships between them as well. They aren't on good terms at all, are they?"

Alex shrugged. "Not in England. Muggles aren't actually aware of magic; there are tons of spells dedicated solely to being invisible to them, because Wizards don't trust them at all. They are sure that if Muggles ever became aware of magic, then the peaceful Wizarding times would be over." He squirted out the tomato sauce before muttering a Smell Suppressing Charm around him so that Jasper, who had told him already of his rather wavering control on his bloodlust, wouldn't be put under any unnecessary strain. Then, he brought out a bottle of Griffin blood which he'd brought with him for especially this sort of occasions and poured it in. Jasper, next to him, stiffened.

"Is that blood?"

Alex looked at him with slight alarm, wondering if his Smell Suppressing charm had failed, or if somehow the blood would affect Jasper even without smell. He cursed himself for his stupidity at not asking first.

"Can you smell it?"

Jasper stood still for a moment, testing the air, before shaking his head. "No, I just recognized the color and look. Why can't I smell it? Come to think of it, I can't smell you or the lasagna either."

Alex smirked, bringing out his wand and holding it in front of Jasper. "Do you know what this is?"

Jasper looked at the piece of wood weirdly before shaking his head. Alex's lips stretched and he waved the wand in his hand minutely. Jasper's eyes widened as the Cookbook was suddenly snatch from his hands and flew to Alex's.

"Is that…a wand?" He asked after a moment of stunned silence, stretching out his hand to touch the wood. Alex hesitated for a second, before handing over one of his most recently acquired and most precious possessions to the vampire. To anyone else he would have denied the request, but Jasper wasn't just anybody.

_-But he's still disposable.-_

The blonde vampire raised his gaze to Alex's for a moment, letting him know that the gesture was acknowledge and appreciated, even if the reason was not fully understood, before going back to study the piece of wood. He stood in silence for a while, contemplating it as Alex went back to preparing the lasagna, adding the meat and casting a few more spells which the book dictated before placing the top of the pasta on the pan.

"What is it made of? I can sense something vibrating with energy in the center, but I can't really tell much about it apart from the fact that the wood it's made from is maple wood. I'm guessing that the wand holds a magic of its own which reacts to the wizard's, doesn't it? How do you make one?"

Alex took back his wand, cradling it softly in his hands. "You're right when you say it's made from maple, and I'm actually surprised that you could feel the core of the wand. Usually, only the person who the wand belongs to can do that, and sometimes not even then. I'm starting to think you were probably slightly magical when you were human; although, maybe once you turned into a vampire your magic was activated? I'm not sure; anyways, only the outside is wood; the inside is actually a magical creature part." He grinned, only slightly sadistically, as Jasper looked up sharply; he did not need Jasper's ability to feel the horror wafting off him. "Not like a leg, or a part of their brain. Usually when they take it, it's only a part of the creature which is rather simple, or the creature was killed for some other reason; the wand-makers don't kill creatures themselves either, and no one would kill them only for the wand cores. For example, some wands are made with dragon heart-string, or phoenix-feather." He smiled sardonically and Jasper frowned at his suddenly somber expression.

"I used to have a phoenix-core wand. It is considered one of the 'Light' wands of society." He let out a small, mirthless chuckle. "I was so innocent, so naïve. Of _course_ I'd get the phoenix wand. Their little Savior couldn't have anything else." Alex's eyes widened as the words slipped from his lips, turning to look at Jasper with a horrified expression on his face. The vampire was looking at him with a confused, but not pressuring expression and Alex couldn't help but relax, even though he was mentally screeching at himself for letting that slip.

_-Not like you weren't planning to tell him, anyways.-_

"What do you mean, 'Light' wand? And what is the core of this wand?" Jasper asked.

Alex knew that the vampire had sensed the mild panic he'd gone into, and had a few questions about it, but he also knew that the blonde wasn't going to pressure him into answering, something which he greatly appreciated and he knew the vampire was aware of as well; they both had a strange sort of connection which could only be shared by those who have known the true pain of having their whole worlds crashing around them, and them being helpless to do anything about it. The tinge of insanity that came from utter powerlessness, from the knowledge that all you ever knew was a lie.

The deep, unmatchable feeling of betrayal.

Alex wasn't exactly sure how he knew this, but he was sure that the vampire felt the strange connection as well; eventually they were probably going to have to talk about it, but for now Alex settled on the questions he'd been asked.

"In Wizarding Society, magic has been separated into two separate and distinctive sides, Light and Dark." He frowned. "Obviously this is quite a stupid thing to do, as magic does not, in itself, have any such qualities. Magic is magic, and it depends on how it is used that it can be either good or bad; the situation is also quite important." He grinned at Jasper, who looked completely absorbed in what the wizard was saying. "I'm sure you and your family would have an interesting opinion and good and bad, no?"

Jasper laughed good-naturely. "Vampires aren't seen as the best…people to hang around with, for obvious reasons. Although here, no one knows, really, so it doesn't make too much difference." He sighed. "Or, at least, it wouldn't. I'm sure you can sense it; vampires give off this…" he waved his hands in a vague attempt at explaining, and Alex nodded his understanding. "…and people _feel _that. And their instincts tell them that something is just not right. That we are different."

Alex snorted. "Well, you _are_. And I'm different, too." _More than you would believe._ "I'm very…disappointed to have to say that Wizards still hold certain prejudices on vampires and such. To be fair, they're not all wrong, but to take you all into the Wizarding world would be rather…"

Jasper nodded. "Don't worry about it. It's not like we'd be all too eager, either." He paused. "You don't have to answer, and I won't hold it against you if you don't. Also, I won't change my view on you, whatever, you _do_ tell me." He hesitated, then asked cautiously, "Why did you leave England?"

Alex cringed. He knew from his previous reaction and his present one that Jasper knew this was a touchy subject with him. However it was also important. The vampires didn't know much about him or his world at all, and now that he thought about it, he was rather surprised that they had been so accepting of him through all this time. It was probably mostly due to the fact that they were unnatural themselves and therefore more accepting of magic, but he himself would have been much more cautious around anyone like…well, himself.

"I cannot tell you everything," he said after a moment. Jasper nodded, knowing that the fact that Alex was telling him _anything_ was pretty far for the wizard. "The thing is…well, I'm sure you heard before how I mentioned that I'm the Wizarding world's Savior." He winced unconsciously, almost expecting Jasper to gasp and swoon, even though he knew it was ridiculous. "The thing is…well, it's complicated." He ran a hand through his hair. "I have had, since…an accident, this connection with the Dark Lord of Wizarding England, Voldemort." His scarlet eyes became softer at the name, and Jasper felt a throb of loneliness and affection as the wizard continued. "His real name is Tom, though. He used to be a normal wizard, just like me. He was, also like me, a victim of the circumstances." His eyes grew cold. "He studied the Dark Arts, because he thought they were beautiful. He was seduced by the logic, by the simplicity, by the sensuality they had. Unfortunately, some people didn't like this. They decided that Tom was too powerful, to dangerous to them." A wave of sadness ran through him. "Tom never wanted to become a Dark Lord, but it was either that or to give up the Dark Arts which he had grown to love so much. He'd led a harsh life as a child, and magic was the first time he'd ever felt at home. They couldn't…ask that…of him…"

_-Such a...subtle lie. But it is not necessary for the little details to be known yet. What would they think, after all? They care enough to vegetarian, and here I am. Other end of spectrum.-_

Jasper nodded, his eyes darkening as a current of anguish and knowing shown through, causing a deeply-stored piece inside Alex to respond to the blonde's pain. He took a shaky breath as memories and feelings ran through him, most of them not his own, but emerging from the part of him that corresponded to his new awareness, to his growing magic, and to his glowing, scarlet eyes. He'd suppressed them, mostly because he wasn't sure he was ready for them, but also because he didn't want to have his own feelings and Tom's mix. He wanted Tom there, but still separate from himself. He had no idea what would happen in they…mixed too much. He was afraid that the vicious voice was growing too strong, already.

A thought suddenly struck Alex, and he cursed lightly, placing the now empty coke on a shelf nearby. "Oh, crap. I forgot. I was supposed to send a letter to Draco yesterday." His eyes widened as he turned to Jasper. "Do you mind? He's the blonde I mentioned before, and he…well, he's in a bit of trouble, and I'm helping him through it." He looked thoughtful for a moment, then mumbled under his breath. "Maybe I should offer him to come over here…"

Jasper heard his mutterings, but didn't comment. He could feel that the brunette was greatly worried over his friend, and wondered what was going on in England that had caused the raven to actually leave, and even be considering his friend's arrival especially since the US was so far. From the emotions he'd felt when Alex mentioned Tom, he knew that he was probably a great part of the happenings, although his specific involvement wasn't clear. He'd felt that Alex was quite emotional over him, but the emotions were to convoluted to be obvious. There was longing, as well as affection; however there was a trace of hate which was also there, although he wasn't certain if it was _at_ the Dark Lord, or _for_ him. There was a great difference there, obviously.

"Go ahead." Jasper said, feeling the nervousness Alex had at both leaving him and the anxiousness to go write to his friend. "I have to go, anyways. I'll see you tomorrow at school, though?"

Alex nodded, smiling vaguely. "Of course!" Then he frowned. Jasper raised an eyebrow, but Alex smiled, although it looked slightly faked and Jasper felt no mirth coming from him. "It's nothing. Your brother and I just had a little…incident." He winced, the memory of the copper-haired vampire's mellow gaze causing an unpleasant shiver to run through him.

_-The bastard!-_

"What happened?" Normally Jasper wouldn't have even asked, but if something important had happened between Alex and Jasper, he felt he needed to know. Alex shook his head. "Nothing to be worried about, just…discovered something." Jasper nodded, accepting for now.

They said goodbye, and Jasper left Alex's house. The wizard sighed, running a hand through his hair before hurrying upstairs to his room and taking out a piece of parchment, where he wrote;

_Signia,_

_The evening here draws to a close, and I wonder what you think of. Is gold shining on toward you, or is darkness in the form of light falling? Remember, but do not allow to be seen by those who disguise themselves. Those who depend on the pot will assist the kettle._

_Here, spring comes early, and sparrows sing you a potential welcome. Cold beings of our own salute me, and possibly, you. What stall you? I welcome you as well._

_Deamon_

Alex looked over the paper, knowing that Draco would be able to decipher his true meaning. It wasn't too hidden to be frank. Basically, he was asking the blonde what was going on in Britain. He was also asking him for current information regarding Dumbledore; the meddlesome old wizard had caused Alex much grief, and he would not underestimate him, as Tom had in his coming insanity. Severus was also mentioned in passing; the man had helped Alex in his escape to America, and in evading Dumbledore and the Order.

He also offered a place here. The blonde had wanted to leave with Alex, but at the time it had been neigh impossible. No one knew of their close connection, and it was already suspicious how Alex had practically disappeared, not that anyone knew of his actual leaving Britain. If Draco had also left with him, it would have been obvious.

He wondered briefly is Draco would recognize the 'cold beings' reference. It could be interpreted in certain ways, and he himself hadn't expected vampires when he'd arrived. It wasn't overly important, and the main point of the letter was to be sure that Draco was well and out of Dumbledore's grasp.

"_Messagio Correndo._"

The parchment in his hand disappeared inaudibly – except perhaps for vampire standards, Alex thought in passing – and he sighed. He was truly worried for Draco, after all. He hadn't seen the blonde after his departure, which was already a few weeks past. He hadn't left Europe immediately; he'd gone first to France, and then passed through Portugal and Spain. The cities had extremely small magical communities in the latter two, and Alex was able to pass comfortably through. He'd decided early that America was the only place he could go to find any true peace; the distance was long enough that no wizard, no matter how powerful, could Apparate or even fly on a broom through, and therefore had to take a plane. Alex had some magical spells in place, set to allow him to know if any plane was coming specifically to Forks or any place near, and he had alerts around the same sections to alert him of any Wizard who had thoughts about him. They'd been extremely tricky spells and charms to learn and cast, but Draco had helped him through letters filled with facts and encouragements, and finally he'd been able to relax, at least a bit.

He went downstairs to the fridge and took out another Diet Coke. He knew he was probably addicted, but he didn't really care. He was a wizard, and so addiction to Coke did nothing to him; he unconscious magic was constantly repairing his stomach and teeth, and any other side-effects of the coke were brushed aside. It wasn't the same for any other Wizard, he knew, but he had always been a special case. The thought brought a scowl to his face.

_-And now I have a vampire crushing on me.-_ He took a swig of the coke, grimacing. _–All that's left is that I get drawn into the middle of a war between Vampires and Werewolves or something.- _He snorted. That would obviously never happen. Vampires and wolves were never found near each other; they were natural enemies, and as they were usually quite evenly matched they kept to themselves. Forks was tiny in itself, and the chances of wolves being here were so small they were ridiculous.

_-Remus would be so pissed at me right now,-_ he thought nostalgically. Memories of the werewolf still hurt; his betrayal had not been the hardest, since it was probably the least ill-meaning, but he was still one of the people who Harry had trusted, and almost thought of as a surrogate father sometimes. He shook his head, and instead started thinking on Draco once again. He took a gulp from his Diet Coke, the action bringing a memory to him of Draco warning him of the dangers of Diet Coke addiction. He grinned.

_-Hopefully,-_ he thought wistfully _-He'll be here soon. Then maybe I won't feel so alone.-_

Behind him, the music filtered through the air, and Alex abscently noted that it had replayed his playlist and was now back on the same song it had started. Almost unconsciously, he sang along, feeling himself being lulled into sleep.

**_Good morning day  
Sorry I'm not there  
But all my favorite friends  
Vanished in the air  
It's hard to fly, when you can't even run  
Once I had the world, but now I've got no one..._**

* * *

TBC-


	5. Barriers

Hi! Comment; some of you may notice that on the last chapter, the ending was changed. If you didn't notice, go back now and look at the changes. ^^0 So, so sorry. Sometimes ideas pop up and I love them but they don't go with the previous idea and so I have to change one of them, and this time the previous one got it. I promise this won't be common or anything, but the 'werewolf' thing was just not going in the direction I plan this story to go it.

By the way, what do you people think should go about with Draco? And also, do you think I should bring Snape into the story, or just keep Alex isolated?

Also, for all those confused readers, Alex is the present, while Harry refers to memories and the past. Basically.

Thank you so much to all those who reviewed, and all those who pointed out my mistake in the previous chapters. I don't have a Beta, so I don't tend to notice those. So if you notice anything, please mention it!! That way I can correct it :)

Also, Edward is back this chappy.

* * *

**Barriers**

The next morning, Alex awoke, as usual at 5. He yawned a bit, shaking his thoughts and tried to remember what he had to do today. He thought back lightly to yesterday, a small grin filtering into his mouth. He really did like Jasper. He understood where Alex was coming from, having been through something similar. They could feel what the other was feeling and truly connect on a deeper level than even Japer's empathy powers allowed. It was refreshing.

He went through his morning routine, trotting out into the crisp morning air. He could feel the wards around his home vibrating, and knew that someone had been around last night. He hadn't done anything because it had been obvious, after a few seconds of vague panic, that it was one of the vampires. He didn't know them well enough yet, except for Jasper, to be able to recognize the signature which was unique to each one, but he knew that they were not any threat.

They'd have been severely burned if they were.

He tried to scuffle down the vague sentiment of sadistic glee, and was partially successful. He frowned, and upped his pace as he trotted on the path. He'd been going for the past ten minutes, and nearing his house. He'd taken a circular path, thanking his magically enhance location skill that he hadn't gotten lost at all.

War had changed him, as it would anyone who wasn't already insane. It hadn't broken him, as it had so many others, but he hadn't gotten out unscathed, not for a long shot. Tom's permanent mark on him wasn't even the largest change, and _that_ little stunt had changed his eye colour and added a strange little voice in the back of his head. After all, technically that wasn't him, but Tom.

No, the largest change had been to his morals. War is a time when normal, peace-time morals are thrown to the wolves and new, ruthless morals take their place. If you don't manage to undergo the change quickly enough, or with enough radicalism, you died. It was cold, harsh, and simple. Harry had survived, one of the few, and even then he'd become Alexander Black. He hadn't died, per se, but he would never again be the Harry Potter he'd been.

Alex was slightly surprised to realize he'd reached his home again without even realizing it, and he slipped inside. The wards let him know that whoever it was who had been around earlier was back, and Alex decided that he would rather not deal with stalker vampires at this moment. He was rather pissed; memories of the past did that to him. He quickly went to his room and, after a quick locking charm and privacy ward around his room and bathroom, took a shower and dressed. He took a glance at his reflection on the mirror and grimaced. He should have gotten used to it by now but he normally avoided mirrors at all costs.

After a horrible battle with a few of the more sadistic Death Eaters, Alex had received a rather…artistic souvenir. There were two swirls on his temples, scars which would have looked amazing as tattoos, but were slightly less so as battle-wounds. His eyes were surrounded in dark rings which made it seem as if he were wearing heavy, smoky make-up, but were rather permanent reminders of his sleepless weeks and stressful campaigns. His blood-red eyes stared back at him, shining with a deep seated hatred and determination which Alex could not comprehend, and which seemed to bypass from Tom's small corner inside him and shine directly into the mirror. No one saw it but him, that these were not his eyes. They had been a gift and they were now on his face, but Alex couldn't help the feeling that, whenever he looked in the mirror, he was seeing Tom.

He saw through Glamours as easily as if they weren't there, no matter how powerful they were. He actually had to concentrate not to, and he often caught himself seeing something he'd rather not have. After all, people put on Glamours for a reason.

Casting a complex charm on his face, he watched as his features morphed slightly. The scars dissolved and disappeared, leaving behind flawless skin. The dark rings became tiny lines of black, corresponding to a usual person's sleepless appearance. His blood red eyes stayed.

Alex turned from the mirror; to him, there was no actual change, and he didn't enjoy the reminder of all that had happened.

Sometimes, he caught himself staring at his own reflection, mesmerized by what he saw. His mind was blank, and if he simply gazed and gazed, he could imagine that the face belonged to someone else, and that he wasn't alone. The red eyes conveyed to him a sense of belonging, a sense of knowledge and understanding unmatched by any other person Alex had ever met, even Jasper. Tom knew him, and he knew Tom.

A knock on his house door startled him from his thoughts, and he reeled as the wards bombarded him with the announcement of someone outside. Alex shook his head, feeling slightly paranoid that he hadn't noticed such a thing – _would've gotten killed in the war faster than I could say "Shit" – _and quickly walked outside. He noted absently that it was 7 30, and about time that he should have breakfast. It took around 10 minutes to get to school, and class started at 8. He still had 20 minutes, and now a person at his door.

"Vampire," he commented lightly, silently, as the wards vibrated. They also noted that it was the same one which had been hanging around the house most of the night, and Alex felt a tinge of annoyance.

_-If this is Edward, I'm going to kill him and his privacy issues.-_

Sure enough, as soon as the door opened and Alex saw Edward standing there, with a strange expression, he had to step down on the sheer fury that threatened to burst.

_-First a bloody crush, and now this. I'm going to…-_

"Cullen," he said coldly, and he felt rather proud that hadn't simply shut the door in the vampire's face. Edward seemed put-out by his tone, but finally decided to go ahead and speak. Alex noted that there seemed to be a light undercurrent of anger in his tone, and wondered what _he_ had to be angry about. Maybe yesterday's outburst had offended his delicate sensibilities?

"I'm…not sure why you're so angry," Edward began, and Alex had to once again squash the urge to slam the door in his face. The bloody prick had the nerve to make it seem as if Alex was the one acting like a school-girl! "I just…"

"Decided to stalk me all night?" Alex snapped, his anger getting the best of him. He rather wished that Edward was angry at him, just so that the wards would react and burn the bloody vampire to the ground. However, it seemed the guy was angry at something else, if the lack of screaming and burning was anything to go by. Edward looked rather shocked at Alex's outburst'

"I…but how…"

"Please," Alex scoffed. "As if you couldn't tell. I know that you know I'm a wizard. At the very least you've read _that_ out of Jasper, if not the whole story already." His eyes flashed in anger. "Obviously, breaching other people's privacy holds no concern for you."

Edward had the grace to look ashamed. "I did pick up a bit about your world. But let me explain!" he said, feeling, even though not understanding, Alex's magic radiating the teen's fury. "He was thinking about it all as he came near. You can't blame only me. You know I'm a telepath and I can't control it. I can tune it out, to a point, but when someone thinks about something as detailed and carefully as Jasper was, it's like he was shouting in m ear. Besides, I'm sure you can understand that even if I didn't want to hear, the topic still interests me." He looked sheepish. "I didn't really want to intrude into your privacy, but Jasper is at least partly to blame."

Alex took a deep breath, reigning in what he knew was wrongly focused anger and stuffing it into the little black box, deep inside him, where all the memories of the war were stored. He closed it quickly and stored it before the other feelings could get out.

"I know," he said after a while, looking slightly tired but accepting. Edward looked slightly startled that the anger had dissolved so quickly, but decided not to comment. "I'm…sorry I got so angry at you. I know you can't help it, and I did sort of expect this to happen." His eyes narrowed as he focused on a point behind Edward. "I'll have to speak to Jasper about this. It _is _rather unfair to place you with all the blame." He once again looked at the vampire, seemingly considering something for a moment. "Would you like to come in?"

Edward quickly swallowed his surprise and smiled. He knew that this was Alex's tentative try at a peace treaty after having blown up at him, although he had a right to be angry; it _was_ his life's story, after all.

"I'd accept, but actually I was going to offer you a ride to school. It's nearly time to go."

Alex blinked. He hadn't noticed that 10 minutes had passed. It was still early to go, but he didn't really mind arriving early either.

"…ok. Just let me get my bag."

Edward nodded, then looked thoughtful. "Have you had breakfast?"

Alex's eyes narrowed and he went back inside to grab his back. "We're going to have to talk about these stalker tendencies of yours. _That_ is something that annoys me more than the mind-reading. I'm sure you can help _that_."

Edward looked down. "I…"

Alex appeared once again at the door, holding a cereal bar. "Don't make any excuses. It'll be worse." He still sounded annoyed, but quite a bit less so than before. He waved his hand and allowed his magic to filter into the wards, strengthening them. It was a habit he'd developed in the war, when he didn't know when he'd be back to feed magic to the wards; sometimes they got captured, or hurt and stayed away for weeks.

They walked to Edward's car, Alex once again having to control himself so that he wouldn't start drooling. Edward seemed to notice this and smiled affectionately, and Alex had to clench his teeth to keep from grimacing.

_-Damn. Forgot that little 'crush' aspect.-_

The thought brought up a nearly disappeared feeling of resentment from yesterday, and he had to concentrate on his mental barriers to keep the feeling from leaking out. He didn't think Edward was completely aware of the way he was acting, and he didn't want the vampire to find. Maybe there was still hope that, after the novelty of Alex's arrival went away, Edward would loose interest in him in _that_ way. A little voice in his head laughed bitterly at the hope.

"Alex? You ok?"

Alex suddenly realized he'd been standing outside Edward's car with the door open. Edward was looking at him with at lightly worried expression as he turned on the engine.

"Yeah, sorry. Just thinking," Alex said distractedly as he climbed in. Edward looked slightly annoyed for a moment. Alex scowled at him as he felt a prod at his walls.

"I've warned you to stop doing that. I can feel you doing it, you know?" he snarled at Edward, who immediately withdrew from his mind.

"I'm so…"

"You keep saying you're sorry, and yet you keep doing it," Alex snapped, reaching for the handle from the car. "You know what, if you're going to keep trying, I'm just going to go on my own car."

"No!" Edward said, surprising both Alex and himself with the vehemence of his response. "No," he said, voice softer, looking embarrassed at his outburst. "I'll…stop doing it. I promise. I really _am_…"

"Don't apologize," Alex said, taking his hand away fro the door and looking slightly bored, although inside he was once again locking the anger into the box. "Just don't do it."

Edward nodded and proceeded to bring the car onto the road; the ride to school took around 10 minutes, Alex knew, and Edward seemed to be in no hurry. They were quiet for a while – during which Alex was pleased to notice that Edward made no attempt to peak into his mind – before Edward broke the silence.

"Thank you, though."

Alex had been thinking about Draco and was slightly startled at Edward's voice. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Thank you," he repeated, looking uncomfortable. "For…pointing it out."

Alex looked confused, and Edward looked even more uncomfortable. "Pointing what out?"

"My 'stalker' tendencies," Edward said after a moment. "I…no one really knows, and those that know have never mentioned it, so I hadn't really realized to what level my prying had gotten to. I'm really…" he stopped before the apology was completed, swallowing nervously. "Thank you for pointing it out. I feel rather embarrassed at my social idiocy, however unconscious it is." He let out a light, nervous chuckle. "And I…apologize for the stalking. There really _is_ no excuse for that. I promise never to do it again, although I am slightly curious as to how you knew."

Alex nodded, knowing that the allowance Edward was making at accepting his fault was quite large for the vampire.

"I…normally I wouldn't say, but I sure you can keep a secret," he said, pointedly referring to Edward's constant knowledge of other people's issues. The vampire nodded immediately, knowing that Alex was thanking him for the apology and the promise of trying to stop. He was rather amazed that Alex trusted him enough, even after the incident with Jasper, but he was not going to look a gift-horse in the mouth. And he would definitely not tell anyone; Alex's trust in him was shaky enough as it was.

"Well, you know I'm a wizard," Alex said, and Edward winced almost unnoticeably at his slightly acid tone. "We can cast a special type of spell called Wards. They can be placed around a small object, on a person, or a place, such as a house. They perform different functions, according to what the wizard wants them to." He shrugged. "I have a few wards, which I'm not going to go into detail in, but one of them tells me when someone is around, and who that person is." He didn't mention that he himself had to know the person and their signature for the ward to be specific, nor that there were many ways to get around alarm wards. He trusted the vampire, but not anywhere near that much.

Alex was willing to divulge information, since, after all, it built trust for him. He was not, thought, willing to supply the important details. A habit of war, were the giving of information had to be carefully moulded so that only the parts which benefited him were explained, and the light details which would inconvenience him strategically ignored. Edward would be wary of how to approach the house; he didn't know how far the wards extended, and he believed that Alex would know who he was and where he was at all times. The limitations would be made clear with more experience and time, but without Alex's support, the vampire's knowledge would be limited.

Edward nodded, absorbing the information. He'd had an idea of what the alarm system was like; he had, after all, read many fantasy books – or should he call them realistic, now? – about wizards, but the details weren't clear. He also didn't need his mind reading powers to know that Alex was keeping certain things from him, but he was actually amazed that he had revealed as much as he had, and thankful.

They arrived at the school not a minute later, and both got out comfortably. It was still around 5 minutes until the bell rang, and the parking-lot was just starting to fill out. Edward turned to Alex as they entered the building.

"So, I guess I'll see you later?"

Alex nodded. "Sure. By the way, tell Jasper I need to speak to him." He gazed pointedly at Edward, who nodded stiffly. Alex sighed. "I'm not still angry at you for that. You already apologized repeatedly, and promised to try and stop. That's all I can ask of you." He then looked up at Edward with a small smile. "Really. I appreciate it."

Edward looked shocked for a moment before suddenly looking extremely nervous. "It…was nothing. It was the least I could do." He said, sounding flustered. Alex frowned for a moment before he realized that, if the vampire could, he'd be blushing. He swore in his head and turned away from Edward before he did something stupid, like blow up at him again. The vampire said something to him as he walked away, but Alex ignored it and raised a hand to signal that they would talk later.

"Stupid, stupid," he murmured as he walked to his first class, Math. The vampire was acting like a besotted schoolgirl! "If only he knew…" he said softly, sitting down on his seat near the window, a light, pitying kind of affection lingering in his tone. "…if only he knew what I'm really like."

A few seconds later the bell rang, and Alex swore that his ears would start bleeding soon from the bell.

_-I've got to do something about that.-_

Suddenly, he noticed that someone was standing in front of his desk. He looked up and couldn't stop the groan that came out.

"What are _you_ doing here?"

Bella was not moving and simply glaring at him, her hands clenched at her sides. She looked like she was about to cry.

"You…he…"

Alex lifted an eyebrow, looking lightly bored. "I know I'm pretty awesome, but even I can't read your mind. If you managed to finish a sentence, however, I might…"

"HE BROKE UP WITH ME!" she screamed, and then spontaneously burst into tears and ran out of the room.

There was sudden silence in the room as Alex simply sat there, stunned, as the rest of the present class turned to look at him with bewildered and confused expressions.

A moment passed and suddenly, her words registered in his startled brain and Alex groaned again, letting his head drop his desk with a thud.

_-He broke up with her. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. – _

He then brought up his head, resting it against his hand with a long-suffering sigh of annoyance, and wondered how he would go about dissuading the vampire from his…_feelings_; which was now going into dangerous territory. Bella's position as Edward girlfriend, although she was an annoying twit, had been extremely useful as a buffer. Now that she was no longer there, he would have to compensate.

_-Maybe by acting like Bella?- _he thought sarcastically. Then, a mischievous grin bloomed on his face.

_-I've ALWAYS wanted to do __that__, but never had the proper excuse. …I might actually have to thank them for this chance.- _

It took Alex a great deal of self-control to keep from bursting out into evil-mastermind-who-just-made-a-BRILLIANT-plan laughter.

_-Operation 'Dissuasion' is officially now underway.-_

* * *

**TBC-**


	6. Crush

Haha! Still not dead. ^^

Sorry about the wait. I'm just really, really not punctual. At all.

Anyways, enjoy the next chapter! A bit of development :)

* * *

**Crush**

The bell rang for lunch, and Alex hurried out of English class to be sure to get to the Cafeteria first. He knew that Edward couldn't read his mind, but that didn't mean that the guy wasn't perceptive. He'd have to start laying around clues that the vampire hadn't caught onto yet, so that later, the Plan wouldn't fall apart around him. That was not something he looked forwards to, for various reasons.

Stupid vampire was _fast_, though. He dumped Bella almost two days after meeting him; although, to be fair, it was clear that he wasn't really happy with her at all since before he'd met Alex. And, even so, apparently the crush was a bit stronger than Alex had realized at first. He rolled his eyes and bit back a grin as a group of teens looked at him weirdly, and he hurried into the Cafeteria. There were only about 5 people, but Alex knew that in a minute or so it would be filled to the brim with hungry students. Quickly, he sought out a relatively pretty girl and went up to her with a grin on his lips. As he approached, he wondered if the Cullens would walk in in time to see his performance; otherwise it would be a waste of time.

She turned once he was almost right next to her.

"Hi, I'm Alex," he said, dulling his eyes so they wouldn't be quite so startlingly red. The girl smiled at him, flirting, and Alex had to bite back a grimace. He wasn't attracted to girls in _that _way, after all, and this faking made a part inside him die a little.

"Hi, I'm Amy. You're new here, right?"

Alex had to bite back the _duh _that threatened to spring, but then from behind he sensed that the Cullens had just entered the room. He smiled, making sure to make it seem like he hadn't even noticed them. He was actually hoping that Jasper would tune into him, though; he was rather enjoying the Plan, and that might translate to him enjoying talking to the girl in Jasper's mind. He tried to feel bad for using Jasper in such a way, but it only made the voice in his head laugh harder.

"Yeah, I am. Actually, I'm just a bit lost, and you seem like the friendly type." He could almost _feel_ Edward finally tuning into the conversation, and purposely added the thinly veiled flirt just to torture him. The vampire's unease was obvious, even when he wasn't even looking at him at all.

He had hurt Alex, even if he didn't know it. He deserved to suffer a bit, too.

The girl batted her eyelashes at him, and Alex had to shift a bit to keep from dropping the façade. This was _hard_. No pun intended. At all. He smiled and leaned to his side a bit so that he was minutely closer to the girl.

Suddenly, he heard a shout behind him and he turned rapidly, all senses alert for any kind of threat. He found that his right hand was raised in front of him on instinct, as if he were holding a wand, and quickly dropped it, changing his stance to one that spoke less of war and more of surprise. It all happened so fast, that the girl only saw him jump as if startled.

"Woah! You totally just jumped!"

But Alex ignored her. Another shout and a shrill screech brought his eyes over to the Cullen table, where the vampires were being accosted by Bella and two of her friends, a girl and a guy. Bella was standing quietly and glaring at Edward, and the girl was screeching to him about how he was so mean, and so stupid, and so cruel to have led on Bella, and the guy was just as hysterical. Alex suspected that the guy actually had a crush on Bella and that was why he was so startled and angry. Unless he was gay. But he didn't quite seem the type.

"How dare you leave Bella just like that? There was no explanation! You just got bored of her, huh? You found some other pretty girl? Not _cool_ enough for you, huh?"

Alex seriously wanted to go and strangle the girl. He didn't particularly care much for Edward at this point, but by Merlin, she was so annoying.

He turned to the girl—Kany? Amy? Yeah, that was it—and smiled apologetically.

"It seems that my friends are getting screamed at, I'd better go help them."

She smiled back, a bit surprised and yet still batting her eyes. "You're friends with the Cullens? Wow. That's so amazing!"

Alex grinned at her. "Of course I am." _Don't gag, don't gag._

Then, he went up to the table and sat down right beside Jasper, who was looking rather put out by the whole screaming thing and who seemed to rather be in pain. He looked surprised at Alex when he sat down, obviously not having sensed him coming up, and then frowned minutely; then, Alex waved his hand and suddenly Jasper couldn't feel Bella's group's emotions anymore. He looked at Alex with wonder, who shrugged.

"I'll explain later," he said under his breath, and Jasper nodded minutely, sending him a subtle smile in gratitude. In front of him, Edward was sitting with his jaw clenched tight and his eyes flashing in anger, but Alex had the distinct impression that Bella's group wasn't too aware. He wondered if Jasper was feeling pain from Edward too, and quickly asked the blonde, who nodded. He then waved his hand and Edwards emotions were blocked as well. Jasper let out a barely visible sigh of relief.

Bella, meanwhile, had noticed Alex and was now glaring viciously at him and Alex noted that she had been crying. A small part inside him twitched with the tiniest expression of guilt, but it was quickly eradicated by Tom's presence.

_-It's not my fault vampy likes me. If it were up to me, in fact, he _wouldn't.

He shot Bella an annoyed glare, and she quickly averted her eyes, a twitch of fear apparent in them. Then, finally feeling that the tirade had gone on long enough, he shot the girl and the boy a glare which was laden with a weaker form of Imperius, which really only worked on muggles; they shot Edward one more huffing glare and marched away, all righteous anger. He let out a sigh of relief and let go of the rough magic web he'd rapidly constructed around Jasper, letting the blonde feel the group's emotions again as well as Edwards. The blonde twitched minutely and Alex knew that Edward's anger had not dissipated. Suddenly, the brunette, turned and pinned down Alex with a glare so intense that it actually cause him to flinch.

_-Woah, did I kill his favourite puppy and didn't know it? …I better have, to deserve that glare._

"What was that?" Alex said as calmly as he could, trying his best not to start glaring at Edward in return. He'd gotten the impression before that the vampire didn't really care for Bella in that way, and was actually quite annoyed at her. Perhaps the level of their voices?

Edward's eyes narrowed on Alex further, who was starting to get annoyed at the vampire's silence. Alice, who until then had been sitting surprisingly quiet on Jasper's other side, suddenly leaned forward and prodded Edward.

"Ok, stop glaring at him. He didn't do anything. And besides, it's not his fault, you know. It's…kinda yours." She glanced at Alex vaguely, who suddenly had the urge to bang his head against the wall.

_-I'd forgotten about Alice's little…gift._

Alex knew that Alice could see possible futures depending on each person's intent; the conversation with Edward and the one with Jasper had cemented that; which meant that, since Edward was feeling…attraction for him, she could see them together in one future. However, if Alex go this way (Not now, karma) then no such thing would happen. Her sight must be rather confused, he was certain.

Edward, for his part, had managed to tone down his glare a little and he no longer looked like he wanted to burn Alex into a crisp. Jasper suddenly pushed his elbow lightly into Alex's ribs and moved his head, signalling the courtyard. Alex nodded, and they both stood and walked outside, the rest of the silent Cullen's eyes trailing after them. Once outside and away from their eyes, Alex rounded on Jasper. He had enough presence of mind to cast a Silencing charm before he spoke, however; he wasn't sure just how sensitive each vampire's hearing was. Then, praying it would work without a wand, he once again placed a blanket of magic against Jasper's mind. Before it had been easier, when he'd blocked out Edward and Bella's emotions, since he was only blocking from the outside; now, wondered if it would work to create a faux-wall for Jasper's memories from Edward, at least for now. To keep Edward out for a long while would have to involve Jasper making his own walls, since Alex's barriers were rather fragile and experimental. Emotions were easier to block than thoughts, after all.

Jasper twitched as he felt the barrier against his mind, but didn't question, guessing what Alex's intent was. He nodded to show that he was okay with it, and Alex felt bad for a moment for not asking. A mind was a private place, especially so to Alex; it was partly the reason Edward's prying annoyed him so much, and partly because he had few morals still, but he was very solid on them. One of them was that the mind remained in the user's head. Edward couldn't do anything about his own ability, so he couldn't get exactly mad at the vampire; but that still didn't stop him from wanting privacy.

"What was that? He looked like he wanted me _dead_." Alex snapped at Jasper, who nodded calmly. The blonde knew that Alex's annoyance came from the other vampire's hostility and was not aimed at him. He could also understand that Alex wasn't actually mad at _Edward's _hostility, but at the apparent lack of reason for it; Jasper noted that the boy had probably been victim of many stereotypes, and stored the information away in the little box in his mind where he kept his most private memories, and was the only place which he could purposely keep Edward out of, when necessary.

"He didn't want to you dead, per se. He was just annoyed at your choice of company;" he stopped then, lifting an eyebrow at Alex, who attempted to look confused. He wasn't sure he'd succeeded, partly because of Jasper's expression of amusement, and partly at the blonde's special ability. "Then Bella came up with her friends and began spitting idiocies at him," he said, curling his lip, and Alex's own anger faltered at the blonde's amused disgust. He grinned.

"Well, poor girl. She just got dumped," he said, shrugging, and the blonde gave him a startled glance before letting out a laugh.

"Certainly, she did." Then the blonde gestured to the dinner building. "Shall we go back in?"

Alex grinned at Jasper's almost unconscious old-time speech. "We shall. Lead the way, my gallant knight!"

Jasper laughed again as Alex suddenly grabbed into his arm, tripping every now and then as if he were a princess with a disability and randomly spouting out "Oh, pretty day, isn't it, my knight?", "Oh, you are so brave my knight!" as they went back in. Right before entering, Alex took away the spells from Jasper and himself, not noticing in his rare happiness that the spell around Jasper's mind had a hole in it as his magic dissolved. Once inside they went back to the Cullen group, who was taking between themselves. Alex look around for a moment before frowning.

"Where's Edward?"

Alice turned to him and shrugged, a playful glint in her eyes.

"I don't know. He just stood up a few seconds after you and Jasper went out and stomped out into the hall. It was rather funny; I've never seen him stomp before," she said, looking thoughtfully towards the doors. Rosalie shot him an annoyed glare –as if it were _my _fault!—and even Emmet glanced worriedly at the door.

_-I'm so going to regret this later._

He stood with a longsuffering sigh and waved his hand. "I'll go find him and see what's making him so PMS-y." He turned and walked out the cafeteria. "He better be pregnant or something, with the way he'd acting," he muttered.

He walked a while on the hall before sensing Edward's magical creature presence outside near the entrance tables. There were 10 minutes left in lunch still, he knew, and decided that he might as well talk it out with the vampire now.

_-So should I go forward with the Plan? He reacted rather…surprisingly to the first part alone._

Alex shook his head, seeing Edward leaning against the wall. His posture was stiff but the incredible anger from before was missing and Alex approached him with uneasiness. _I should probably lay off for a while. _

Before he could say anything, however, Edward turned to him and, so fast that Alex barely saw a blur, was suddenly right beside him. Alex had to bite back his instincts to keep his magic from stabbing the vampire and snarled.

"Don't do that! I could have killed you!" he snapped. Edward smirked sardonically.

"But you didn't, did you?"

"Stop acting like a spoiled brat!" Alex said, reigning in his anger. "I refuse to have you venting unreasonable anger on me when I've barely met you for a day." _Among other things._ "So now, spill."

Edward turned away, annoyed. "Don't pretend you don't know, Alex. It was quite obvious."

Alex's eyebrow raised, his expression amused and annoyed but calm; inside however, Tom was laughing.

_-If this is what I think it is, I'm in more trouble than I thought._

"I thought you were the one who broke up with Bella?"

Edward snorted and turned back to Alex, and Alex suddenly felt a sharp prodding in his mind. He shoved back angrily, but knowing that the vampire was simply showing his displeasure, not actually trying to get into his mind.

"Obviously."

"Then…?"

"Then you were ignoring me completely! I think it's quite hypocritical to first be so angry at me for no reason _I_ could see and then bitching at me for actually having a reason! Do you think it was nice to first have me being so stressed over this new powerful individual who I don't know about and could possibly be a threat to me? Then we start to become friends and I start to trust you and…and suddenly you push me away completely! What was I supposed to do? Especially when you were talking to that sl—" the vampire quickly bit on his tongue to keep himself from continuing, looking flustered and surprised at himself. Alex hissed in annoyance at the cut-off admission. _Damn_.

They stood in silence for a moment, both completely aware of the other, before Alex ran a hand through his hair, breaking the tension. Edward sighed.

"Lets go back inside, lunch is about to end," Alex said, turning and walking back inside. His arm, however, was quickly grabbed by Edward's.

"This…we have to talk."

Alex didn't reply, but gently took away his arm, knowing that Edward was too gentlemanly to retain him.

_-Too bad that he's not gentlemanly enough to retain his emotions as well, _he thought.

* * *

TBC-


End file.
